Court Clerks Seek Stable Budgets

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

For the past several years, the Florida court clerk and comptroller offices across the state have found themselves operating under extreme budget deficits, leading to a system that has become more and more challenging for Floridians.

By KAREN RUSHING

For the past several years, the Florida court clerk and comptroller offices across the state have found themselves operating under extreme budget defi- cits, leading to a system that has become more and more challenging for Floridians.Floridians have experienced longer lines and transaction times, dysfunctional access to public court and county records, and backlogs of court filings when they visit their local court clerk and comptroller offices.While Florida's clerks have made every effort to ensure access and efficiency, it has become a crucial issue that must be addressed once and for all.This legislative session, Florida's court clerk and comptroller offices are proposing statutory changes that will create sustainability and stability within our offices across the state and provide us with an adequate amount of funding to be able to continue to provide our vital services to Floridians.For more than 150 years, the Florida court clerk and comptroller offices were funded by fines, fees and service charges we imposed and collected, until a major constitutional change was adopted in 1998, and implemented in 2004, that required the state to fund the state court system.In 2009, the Florida Legislature required the court clerks to be funded through the general-appropriation process and diverted significant revenue previously used to fund the court clerks for other state purposes.Now, we are asking lawmakers in Tallahassee to switch to a continuing-appropriation budget approach that would cap clerks' budgets at a continuing level set by the Florida Legislature and allow for a possible limited adjustment factor based on increases in workload.The clerks also are proposing to allow for the transfer back of the filing fee that was redirected to other state uses in 2009 and are advocating for the Legislature to recognize that the 8 percent service charge imposed on the state trust fund is not applicable to the court clerks' trust fund.Additionally, we are proposing that any excess amount that might occur from this redirection of revenue would annually revert to the general-revenue fund.Understanding the critical role we play in the court and judicial system, we truly believe that this restructure of funding is the best solution to creating sustainability and stability for our court clerk and comptroller offices across the state, while still allowing for accountability to the Florida Legislature.Floridians deserve timely access to their records, their local clerk's office and an efficient court system — all of which can be achieved with this legislative change.[ Karen Rushing, the Sarasota County clerk of the circuit court and county comptroller, is legislative chair of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers Association, Tallahassee. Internet: www.flclerks.com. ]